An interview carried recently in this newspaper has once again sparked the debate on whether a Trades Union Council should be set up. And, judging by the way unions are attacking each other, such a prospect seems to be very unlikely at this moment in time.
The formation of a TUC is not in any way more beneficial to workers and neither does the Union Haddiema Maghqudin feel it is the right time for it to happen, UHM secretary general Gejtu Vella told The Malta Independent in an interview published on 6 December.
The General Workers Union and the Forum Unions Maltin immediately voiced their disapproval to such a statement, saying that the more united workers are, the better the chances they have to obtain improved conditions of work.
Since that interview, Gejtu Vella and, more recently, William Portelli, who heads the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions, have been under fire in the GWU newspaper. What is not so easily understood is that while the GWU is advocating unity among trade unions, its newspaper then attacks the leaders of the other unions.
The fact is that over the past months the division between the GWU and Forum on one side, and the CMTU and the UHM on the other, has continued to grow. They were all together when they marched in Valletta in November 2008, but since that historic activity they went their separate ways.
An idea floated soon after that event by the MUT president John Bencini to form a TUC was dismissed by the CMTU and its affiliates, pushing the MUT to leave the confederation and join Forum. Since then, the two factions have grown further apart. Earlier this year, the CMTU and UHM disassociated themselves from mass activities that the GWU and Forum held in Valletta.
The fact that it is only the GWU that is supporting Forum’s claim to be accepted as a member of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development is highly indicative of the differences that exist between the two sides.
And these differences have once again come to the fore after Mr Vella’s interview. The thing is, Mr Vella was just expressing an opinion, to which he is entitled. If he believes that a TUC will not help, or at least will not help now, then he should be allowed to say so.
The reaction by the GWU – and the subsequent attacks on Mr Vella and, more recently, on Mr Portelli – shows a kind of intolerance that ultimately justifies what Mr Vella said. The two factions are too far apart from each other to believe that a TUC, once that incorporates all unions, can be formed, at least for the time being.